Chapter 435, Part 1: Authentication Failure
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"...so that's everything," Akane said, glancing at Haru to confirm that she hadn't left out any detail of their investigations into the bank run.
Hazō shifted uncomfortably in the bed, simultaneously wishing that he had some of the pain-easing draught that the medic had been plying him with and that he did not have it—pain or the ability to think, the patient's dilemma.
"It's clear that the Hyūga and the Hagoromo are both involved," he said at last. "Do you have any ideas on how?"
Haru shrugged. "Nothing we can find. There just isn't enough information."
"How did the Hagoromo get all that scrip if they didn't buy it from us?" Hazō asked. "Could they have forged it?" He paused, thinking. "How easy would it have been to forge, anyway?"
It was Akane's turn to shrug. "Civilians couldn't, but it wouldn't be that hard if you wanted to and had access to Force Wall seals. The scrip was just pieces of birch that were carved with a Force Wall seal, then lacquered and painted. Carving with a Force Wall makes them very smooth, without the texture you get from sanding. The Gōketsu crest gets branded into them on one side and a number on the other to indicate the value; it would require a little effort to make an exact match for the branding irons but you could make one that was good enough to pass a casual inspection without too much trouble." She grimaced. "We prioritized being able to make them quickly, but I guess we should have thought more about making them unique."
Hazō nodded thoughtfully. "I should have thought of it. Now that I see the issue I can come up with a lot of solutions, but I didn't before. How available is the Force Wall seal?"
"You can buy it from the Tower," said Haru.
"So forgery is definitely an option. Do we know how much scrip was collected when Asuma bought it all? If we know how much we made and how much he collected then the difference would be the amount forged."
"No," Haru said. "First off, we didn't keep an exact count of how much we made. Second—"
"We didn't keep count of how much we made?!"
"No, okay?! Why should we have? We made enough to cover whatever demand came up. The clan didn't have a lot of actual ryō and people were letting us just make it up? Of course we made a lot and we never bothered tracking it."
Hazō leaned back into his pillows, the magnitude of the issue spinning his head around.
"Anyway, like I was saying, the other reason your idea fails is because the money sometimes got lost."
"It...got lost?"
"Yeah. It was just wood. It chipped, it cracked, it got scorched. The first lacquer that we were using turned out to be very flammable and a bunch of the stuff got torched by mistake. We switched to something less flammable after that. Anyway, if the crest got too damaged for whatever reason then merchants wouldn't accept it, so people would burn it for firewood."
Hazō's vision swam, whether from the concussion or from the impact of Haru's words and the insanity they represented. Actually, it was probably the concussion given that he was currently watching the wall ripple like a bedsheet hung out during a soft breeze.
"Okay, so anyone could have been forging it. Including the Hyūga."
"I don't see why," Akane said. "They were paying for it. Why pay for something you're already making?"
"Cover," Haru replied. "If they suddenly have a lot of it but there's no record of how they got it then it looks like forgery. If they buy a hundred of it but spend a hundred and twenty, no one notices."
"Do they still have it?" Hazō asked. "If they do then we might be able to tell—"
"Of course n—" Haru stopped and coughed. "I mean, no, they don't. There isn't a scrap of scrip in the city because the Hokage ordered everyone to sell it to the Tower at face value. Of course, there wasn't enough money in the city to pay for all of the scrip we printed so people are scrimping and struggling while the tax men are shaking down the Daimyo and all his nobles to collect enough ryō to pay off. The Tower has commandeered most of the food in the city and is rationing it out to ensure that no one starves." He snorted. "Plus, there's a swarm of Tower-funded C-ranks for ninja to go bring food in from the countryside. None of the ninja are starving."
"None of the ninja are starving," Hazō said carefully.
"Yeah."
"The Summoner network is being tapped for food purchases," Akane said, trying to inject helpfulness into her tone. "Enma has been very generous with his terms and there was apparently a bumper crop in Monkey this year so they're able to spare quite a bit. It's mostly fruits and nuts but it's something."
"How did I not know about this?" Hazō asked.
Haru snorted. Akane flicked a disapproving glance at him and then looked back at Hazō and shrugged. "You didn't ask. You were off running your mission with the Dogs and then you were in hospital. And it wasn't relevant to the things you needed to know—it's not a problem that we can solve, and the Hokage already has it in hand."
"Oh." He thought about that. "Is there anything else that I haven't asked about but should know?" He struggled to keep the words calm and non-accusatory.
Haru and Akane looked back and forth uncertainly. "I don't think so?" she said uncertainly. "It's a bad winter and there's a sickness going around Leaf. There's been enough snow that civilians can't really travel, so there's no trade coming in. Nothing important for our daily lives or anything that we can do something about. I've done what I can given our resources, including sending some of our ninja out hunting for meat that we can make available, but there isn't a lot of game right now."
"All right. Going back to the original topic, you said that the Hagoromo are spreading rumors about us. Are the Hyūga?"
"Not that I can tell," Haru said. "I've talked to some of my contacts and they haven't said anything."
"Okay, good. What about the businesses that stopped accepting scrip? Any commonalities among them?"
Akane shook her head. "Not that we could find. They're all over the city, in all different fields. Jewelers, grocers, a boarding house...a lot of them but no particular pattern. They tend to cluster, but that's what Kagome says we should expect. If one business stops taking scrip then the ones around it are likely to hear about it, get nervous, and stop accepting scrip. The biggest cluster is in the northwest of the city but there are plenty of others and it might simply be that it's where the first person to stop taking scrip worked and therefore that area had the most time for word to spread. Before you ask, the Hagoromo are towards the center of the city and not especially near that cluster. And we haven't been able to find the first person to stop taking scrip."
"How about prominent figures in the crowd during the run?" Hazō asked. "Insisted on ryo, agitated the crowd, too loud or conspicuously quiet? Any clan links or social links?"
Akane shook her head. "Not really. There were two goldsmiths and an Amori representative in the crowd, but that's what you'd expect: They were the ones that the Hagoromo had just made large purchases from so naturally when they heard the rumors that the scrip might be worthless they panicked. And no, they didn't hear it from the Hagoromo. One of the goldsmiths heard it from his sister's husband who heard it from a wine vendor who heard it from a customer he didn't recognize or remember. They're all like that—the rich people, I mean. As to the rest, it was a pretty varied bunch. There were a few outlanders, mostly from Hot Springs, who wanted to get home before the snow got too deep, some wealthy Leaf residents, and some nobles from the countryside who were wintering here. Sure, you can draw connections between them but that's because rich people move in the same circles. Nothing really stands out, to us or to Kagome."
"The merchants who sold to the Hagoromo, how did they use the scrip?"
"Haru?" Akane asked, turning to him.
He shrugged. "Dunno. It's not like we can ask people for their detailed financial records."
"Are there Tower records of scrip collection?" Hazō asked.
"Probably, but we aren't getting them," Haru replied. "We asked. The Tower isn't giving the information out."
"I'd recommend against asking Asuma," Akane said. "While all of this is happening I feel like we don't want him thinking about us anymore than he absolutely has to."
"I see. Okay. Is there anything else? Any leads, anything I should know?"
Both of his investigators shook their heads.
"Honestly, I think we may be at a dead end," Akane said hesitantly. "There simply aren't enough detailed written records that we can get at and the more time passes the fuzzier people's memories get." Something visibly occurred to her and she raised a finger. "Actually, there's one thing. We started thinking about the Amori position in this. They sold the Hagoromo a big chunk of land for scrip, but then the word went around that the scrip was worthless and they were effectively out a lot of money. And I mean a lot of money—the land purchase was filed with the Tower as required and we managed to bribe someone to let us see the records. Then Gaku and Granny went to the Amori for that loan to help us pay off the creditors during the actual bank run. Given the terms that they stuck us with, the Amori are going to make back the amount they loaned us, plus the amount that they lost due to the scrip becoming worthless, plus a thirty percent profit."
"So they screwed us."
"Nah," Haru said. "We screwed them by costing them all that money. Unsurprising that they would want their own back and a little more." He studied his Clan Head carefully. "You're not gonna go all 'raar, Hazō smash' are you? Because I'm happy to fuck up the Hagoromo but we don't really need another war to the knife going on in the shadows."
Hazō shook his head and then winced as pain spiked through it.
"Hazō?" Akane asked, reaching out one hand and then hesitating.
He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to it, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Just a headache. Okay, if there's nothing else...?"
"I don't think so," she said, blushing but not reclaiming the hand that he still held.
"Nah." Haru's face was carefully blank as he refused to acknowledge his Clan Head and Acting Clan Head's syrupy lovey-dovey antics.
"Cool. That brings us to the last point: You, Haru."
"What the problem?" Haru demanded. "I've been working hard and—"
"It's all good," Hazō said, waving his subordinate's concerns away. "This is supposed to be a compliment, not a dressing down." He paused, thinking carefully. "I'm going to try the Clear Communication Technique here because I feel like this is a fraught situation and I don't want to mess it up. That means I'm going to be laying everything out in detail and being as careful not to leave anything to implication or assumption. If I fail at that, or if I say anything offensive, please let me know so that I can correct my mistake. All right?"
Haru rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "You know I've heard this before, right?"
"What?"
"This Clear Communication thing. You've explained it to me before. I'm not an idiot. I remember things."
"Oh. I...I think maybe I'm having some memory issues."
Akane stroked his hand. "You are, but Lady Tsunade says not to worry about it until your injuries are healed. Apparently it's fairly normal when your chakra system is damaged and simultaneously working to repair this much damage."
"Oh. Uh...okay. Thank you." He took a deep breath (aborting halfway through when his ribs stabbed him in pain at being required to expand) and nodded. "Haru, I hope this is the first time I've said all this or..." He broke off, frowning as he realized that maybe it wasn't the best move to imply that you were happy you hadn't been grateful to someone before. He shook his head, pushing the worry away.
"Let me start over, and please forgive me if I'm repeating anything unnecessarily. You are still new to the clan and you've made no secret of how much you dislike clan ninja, so I'm sure it's been a big adjustment. I want you to feel welcome, and valued, and like you're an equal part of the group. You've been doing outstanding work that's vital to our survival. Mari complimented the information gathering you did after the Hagoromo event, and I'm equally impressed with what you and Akane"—he squeezed her fingers and flashed her a smile—"have been doing on this, our latest debacle. Once this is over and there's a chance to do it properly, I want to recognize your efforts in a way you find meaningful. Unfortunately, we're still new enough to each other that I don't know you well enough to know what a good option would be, and I don't want to accidentally do something that will feel condescending or unimportant. I'm eager to change that, but I acknowledge that it will take time and can't be rushed. With all that said, I'm simply asking: What are your goals and how can I help you achieve them?"
Haru blinked and frowned. He studied Hazō intently for several seconds, then looked at Akane. "Is he always like this or is it just the brain d—the hit to the head?"
She grinned. "He's always like this. He's being sincere, Haru. You were a very youthful teammate and you are now a very youthful clansib. I'm glad you're here and the clan is better off because of you. Hazō recognizes that too and wants to show his appreciation. No ulterior motives, no tricks."
Haru's mouth tightened in sour but not completely unflattered disgruntlement.
"Be careful," Akane said, laughing. "Make that face too long and it will freeze like that."
The disgruntlement got more intense and was joined by a solid attempt at the Not-Kill-You-But-Inflict-a-Moderate-Amount-of-Nonlethal-Bodily-Harm-With-My-Brain Technique. Fortunately, it failed. (Probably because there was no such technique except in legends of spirits who inhabited fast-moving waterways.)
"I'll think about it," he grunted. "Can I go now?"
"Of course," Hazō said. "Thank you for everything, Haru."
The other teen grunted a second time. "Whatever. Also, whatever shenanigans you two are about to get up to, keep it quiet or the nurses will be in."
He turned and departed, leaving a furiously blushing Clan Head and Acting Clan Head in his wake.
XP AWARD: Already awarded by @Velorien in the first part of the chapter.
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Voting ends on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, at 12pm London time.
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